“It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of pen and sword, and he should have a taste for both Ways. Even if a man has no natural ability he can be a warrior by sticking assiduously to both divisions of the Way.”

. . . part of a new breed of Democrats emerging in the Senate. Mostly elected after 2006, these relative newcomers have only known a Democratic-controlled Senate and have little experience with successful bipartisan cooperation, due largely to the tea party's grip on the Republican Party.

Now they are hoping to become a new power center in the party, nudging the old guard to adopt more aggressive tactics in pursuit of legislative goals and largely brushing aside Republican threats of retaliation and obstruction.

They see the rules and traditions of the Senate as having stifled the will of the majority and stalled President Obama's agenda.

"The Senate is a graveyard for good ideas," Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), who along with Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon led the filibuster reform effort and won over veteran colleagues in a body where seniority was once the most valuable currency.

This newer class of Democrats came to Washington, not unlike the tea party Republicans, with a strong commitment to their ideals and policy goals. But while the tea party rule in the House has been characterized by attempts to stifle the president's agenda, Democrats see their goal as helping to implement it.

Thursday's action to limit the use of filibusters — seen as so drastic it was termed the "nuclear option" — shows they are willing to carve out a different path to get there.

"There's a time to reach across the aisle and there's a time to hold the line," said Sen. Christopher S. Murphy (D-Conn.), the body's youngest member at 40, who was elected in 2012.

"And I think so far this year Democrats in the Senate have done a very good job of mixing across-the-aisle compromise with some heretofore unseen spine-stiffening."

The time has come for Democrats to take a harder stance against the tea party Republicans, he said.

"These folks have come to Washington to destroy government from within and will use any tool at their disposal," Murphy said. "To the extent that we have the ability to take tools away from the tea party, we should do it. And one of the tools was the filibuster. Another was the belief that Democrats would cave in the face of another shutdown or debt default."

Wretchard, if that name may be mentioned, has up a devastating, albeit less than hopeful, essay: TWENTY AND ONE. I share his pessimism for the future. Although he does not mention it save by unintentional example, we have become Rome. This Senate is every bit as venal and dangerous as that of the Empire.

This book of beautifully-written but ultimately soulless short stories by Hollywood's most educated actor/director/artist/whatever don't quite go deep enough

AT first glance Actors Anonymous looks like your average novel. Then you notice that it is written by James Franco.

Not content with being an Oscar nominated actor and respected director Franco is also an authoActors Anonymous is his second book. His first was greeted with glowing critical acclaim.

The front cover tells us that Actors Anonymous is a novel. It's not. It's a collection of short stories inspired by Alcoholics Anonymous's 12 Steps.

Split into sections each details one of the darker aspects of Hollywood. As such the composition is bizarre.

While the crux of the AA steps is to reach continued sobriety Franco's book has no such purpose. It lurches between characters and styles. Some of the short stories work well and Franco is especially good when writing about himself.

And while it may seem safe to assume that those comfy T-shirts are designed by a guy named Vince, well, there’s no Vince at Vince.

The Vince name is little more than a marketing concept, the result of a brainstorm by two fashion industry veterans, Christopher LaPolice and Rea Laccone, who launched the line after creating the successful brand Laundry in the 1980s.

And their anonymity is working well:

On Thursday the retailer priced above its initial public offering range, at $20 a share. This was a dollar higher than expected, valuing the newly named Vince Holding (VNCE) at $726 million.

I've been drinking, but even if I had not been, this analysis would require the assistance of the communal mind:

Hewitt interviewed the DEPUTY Director of "Covered California"

Hugh has me convinced that the Director is a Dingbat loser like POTUS that's never done anything real, but this guy seems to be sharp.It may be the alcohol talking, but he seemed to provide more real answer's per question than any other public official I've ever heard.

Anyhoo: If Deuce can give me an address to send the mp3 to for him to send to you, you could listen and give your feedback.

Or if anyone knows of a Website that you can upload mp3's to, I could do that.(I've never understood why youtube can host enormous Terrabytes of Video, but someone could not make a viable business model for mp3's. - Maybe they have, and dumb old Doug just hasn't looked in the last sad 19 months.)

Most of the time I consider Hugh to be a dumbshit beltway GOP "thinker," but he has been a high level lawyer for years, and has learned enough to be a bear of an interviewer/inquisitor when he wants to be.The Deputy Director seemed to be up to the task.

One immediate potential problem came up near the end of the interview when Hugh Grilled him about the PR Budget:

I forget what he said, Google says: Total Marketing Budget: $286,519,301

...but I think he said 400 some million.

Whatever, I'll listen again, I think.

...BUT, what Hugh and I were surprised to learn is that "Enrollment Entities" are paid $ 85 per enrollee!Hugh called it a bounty, to which the guy objected, but it does set up a lot of possible incentives to nefarious ends, IMO.

("Enrollment Entities" - Are The Entities that hire the Enrollers.)

Anyhoo, and here's where Rufus can help, if he can come down off his snit:

I guessed the population of California to be 20 million, which is maybe what it was when we were still there. (I'd gladly move back if it could be we, again. Hell, I'd cut off my balls and dick and move back! ...but back to business:)Google sez the actual pop in 2012 was 38 Million!

So, I figured 85 Bucks per enrollee times 20 Million is $ 1.7 Trillion, thus 40 Million would be $ 3.4 Trillion!

Now, if Rufus, or anyone else that knows Jack Shit about insurance could be so kind:

How do we break down that 40 million in terms of how many policies must be "sold" for all of California to truly be "Covered?"

Forgot:He spouted the same 80,000 that Rufus posted, Hugh asked about Medicaid, he may or may not have weaseled on that.

...but, it seems like even if 80,000 is accurate, it's a pretty small number in a state of 40 Million, ain't it?

(of Course The Crook in the Whitehouse has now put the real shit to hit the fan off by 8 more days....the day after the next election. Subtle Crew, as John Kass warned us they would all be.Chicago to the Max.)

yeah, I suppose so. A lot of those will just let their insurance companies "roll them over," though.

Remember, the average persistency of an individual insurance policy is a bit less than one year. This rollover shit goes on consistently, and on a mass scale in the ind ins business constantly, as it is.

That's about it. I worked in the supplemental group health insurance field, and after several pretty good years caught a wave, and wrote an "impossible" group. Figured it was the "one-off" of a lifetime, and took an early-out. :)

Fourth student suspended in San Jose State University hate crime caseAssociated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. – A fourth student has been suspended in connection with an incident at San Jose State University involving alleged hate crimes against a black student.

University President Mohammed Qayoumi announced the suspension in a statement Friday evening but did not name the student.

Three white students — Logan Beaschler and Collin Warren, both 18, and 19-year-old Joseph Bomgardner — face misdemeanor hate crime and battery charges after being accused of harassing their black roommate after they moved into a four-bedroom dormitory suite in August.

According to a police report, they outfitted their dormitory suite with a Confederate flag, barricaded the victim in his room, and placed a U-shaped bicycle lock around his neck and claimed they lost the key.

I’m too tired to figure it out for you, but is you put it somewhere and post the link where you put it, I’’ throw up a post tomorrow. Right now, I am fried. Spent two days in New York and I need some serious rack-time.

Twitter and Facebook should let users block anonymous messages if they are serious about stopping bullying and trolling on social media sites, David Cameron's adviser on child internet safety has said.

Claire Perry, a Conservative whip, said internet firms are currently not doing enough to tackle bullying online and called for more prosecutions of people who make online threats,that she described as misogynistic.

In a hearing with the House of Commons media committee, she said bullying would be "driven down" if users could choose to block communication from anonymous users.

Perry, who received online threats over the summer, said there should be an online verification process, so people can see if they are dealing with other users who have supplied their real names or chosen to remain anonymous.

"Having been on the receiving end of a storm of Twitter abuse, I don't think the companies do enough. Part of the problem is anonymity of usage," she said.

"People post about how they'd like to rape you and kill you because they think you don't know who you are. If there was some way of the company knowing and being prepared to verify that identify and to show you that verification, I think it would lead to a diminuation in that kind of behaviour.

"I don't think the companies do enough and I think there is a great concern around it given the US legal framework around which the global companies operate."

While the US government has been spying on just about everyone, the hacktivist collective Anonymous has been spying on the US government. You could view that as scary, comforting, or a little of both.

According to a recent Reuters article by Jim Finkle and Joseph Menn, hackers associated with the loosely organized group have been spying on government activity since last December. That's when they exploited what investigators believe was a flaw in Adobe Systems' ColdFusion software--a tool for building complex Web sites.

The hackers left back doors in the compromised servers, allowing them to return at later dates.

One can't easily pin down the amorphous group Anonymous. A collective of tech-savvy activists, it's known for hacks and distributed denial-of-service attacks on government and corporate sites.

Wikipedia, quoting "A website associated with the group" that they do not identify, describe Anonymous as "a very loose and decentralized command structure that operates on ideas rather than directives."

Anonymous members, in public, often wear the Guy Fawkes masks popularized by the movie V for Vendetta.

The FBI is investigating the breaks, and is still trying to determine the size of the damage. They believe that the attacks are ongoing.

According to an FBI memo that has not been publically released but has been seen by Reuters, the departments compromised include the U.S. Army and the Departments of Energy and Health and Human Services.

One internal email, from Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz' chief of staff Kevin Knobloch, reports that the stolen data included personal information on more than 100,000 employees, family members, contractors, and others associated with the Department, and information on thousands of bank accounts.

The bank accounts are very much worth worrying about. Allegedly, Anonymous has only idealistic goals, but there's no guarantee that everyone associated with the organization is entirely honest. The report also states, in the passive voice associated with bureaucracies, that

"It is unknown exactly how many systems have been compromised, but it is a widespread problem that should be addressed."

The recently-discovered attacks might also be connected to another Anonymous campaign, Operation Last Resort. Or it could be retaliation for the heavy sentences handed out to convicted hackers recently, such as Aaron Swartz, who killed himself in January after receiving a 35-year prison sentence.

Investigators believe that this may be the work of the British hacker Lauri Love, or of people associated with him. Love was indicted on October 28 of hacking US government computers. The agencies he allegedly hacked include the Army, the Departments of Energy and of Health and Human Services, and, prophetically, the U.S. Sentencing Commission. The FBI believes that Love is associated with Anonymous.

Does Adobe bear any responsibility for the break-in? A spokeswoman told Reuters that most such attacks are the result of administrators failing to promptly install security patches.

That's a plausible weak link. We should all keep our software up to date to avoid cybercrime, and too many of us fail to do it. Putting anything sensitive in the public cloud is inherently dangerous.

You'd think the government, so adept at gathering information on all of us, would understand that.

[ This sponsored article was written by IDG Creative Lab, a partner of PCWorld. ]

Moscow is banning the construction of new mosques, the latest sign of the growing anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment in Russia.

The four existing mosques in Russia’s largest city are overcrowded during the Muslim holidays. But Mayor Sergei Sobyanin declared this week that new ones will not be built because they are used by migrant workers, according to the Christian Science Monitor. He claimed that between 60 and 70 percent of Muslim worshipers are migrants.

One new mosque is currently under construction. But there won’t be any more, the mayor said.

There’s already hostility toward Muslims in Moscow, and the mayor’s decision is sure to inflame tensions. It’s true that many Muslims worshipping in Moscow are migrant workers—there are 2 million of them, according to travel magazine Roads & Kingdoms.

But there are also 2 million Muslim residents of the city. And none of Moscow’s four existing mosques can hold more than 10,000 people. During holidays like Eid al-Adha, worshippers have resorted to unfurling the prayer mats on Moscow’s streets.

Russian Muslim activist Geydar Dzhemal says that Russian authorities have long tried to prevent construction of new mosques.

“They understand the politics of suppression—direct suppression,” Dzhemal told Voice of America last month. “And they don't understand that this will create problems for themselves much worse then [sic] those they are trying to understand now.”

Targeting of migrants is not confined to Moscow. Russian authorities have rounded up hundreds of migrant workers in Sochi, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, according to Human Rights Watch.

The irony is that despite the crackdowns, officials have acknowledged the need for migrant workers.

Sobyanin, the Moscow mayor, said this week that his city’s economy “could not manage without them.”

“What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.”

"A parade is a group, and I'm not a group animal. I think a mob, no matter what it happens to be doing, is the lowest form of living thing, always steaming with potential murder. Several things I could write on My Placard and then carry it all by myself down empty streets."

After accepting Dookhan's plea, Judge Carol Ball sentenced her to three to five years in state prison in Framingham.

Dookhan's falsification of drug tests, in an attempt to look like a highly productive employee, prompted the release of hundreds of convicts, raised questions about thousands of cases, and forced the state to spend millions to address the problems.

Ball, who found that Dookhan had entered her plea "freely, willingly, and voluntarily", also sentenced Dookhan to two years of probation.

Prosecutors had requested a five-to-seven-year sentence for Dookhan. Her defense attorney had argued for a maximum sentence of one year.

Sentencing guidelines called for a maximum sentence of three years for Dookhan, but Ball said in a ruling last month she wanted to impose a tougher sentence "given the magnitude of the harm she has done, considerations of general deterrence and, particularly, punishment."

Massachusetts officials identified more than 40,000 criminal cases affected by testing Dookhan did during the nine years she worked at the now-closed Hinton state lab.

Michael O'Keefe, president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, says prosecutors have sifted through hundreds of cases and close to 350 people have been released from prison.

As you know, he receives an e-mail from her at the end of each month. However, the last five have all contained the same message.

"Hi Unca Bob, miss you so much. Can't wait to get home and start travelling with you. Unfortunately, I have been delay for another month due to important brain business. Can you spare $500 for cab fare? Hope to make it up to you when I see you. Love. Bodabing Bonsinchoohe."

Young, Indian 'niece' currently serving as intern and lab assistant at the Max Plank Institute of Brain Stuff is currently being held by local police as part of an investigation involving a gang of locals toughs who are thought to be responsible for the theft of various body parts at the Institute. Ms. Bodabing Bonsinchoohe has been accused of using several aliases as part of this crime spree. These include Helen Bonsinchoohe and Igor Montoia. The following video has been presented as evidence in the trial."

When I heard they were still looking for people to test it out, I jumped at the chance. I was disappointed to learn that they were merely looking for people to test that the machine functioned properly rather than that the actual condom functioned properly.

LOS ANGELES – Authorities say a loud auto crash that some passengers thought was shots being fired and an Anonymous call reporting a gunman prompted evacuations at two terminals of Los Angeles International Airport.

Castles says soon after the crash an Anonymous caller reported a gunman at a gate in Terminal 4. Police ordered the evacuation of that terminal as a precaution. The terminal has been deemed safe and travelers can return, but they must go through security again.

The incident brought temporary traffic backups and flight delays.

It came three weeks after a gunman walked into the airport and opened fire, killing an airport security officer and injuring three other people.

They ain't heard a "Loud Auto Crash" if they didn't witness me rolling my '56 VW right in front of the Avenal Hospital.

I was going about 10 or 15 mph, I think, but whatever it was, it was slow enough that almost every bit of sheet metal got to meet the ground.Plus, I had a big case of tools on the back seat which opened up as it crashed around back there, releasing a bunch more noisemakers into the environment of the interior.

When we rocked to a halt on one side, we climbed out, and I told my friend we had to roll it back up and get the heck out.He said we couldn't do that.I said the Hell we can't.

Magnificent Ronald and the Founding Fathers of al Qaeda

“These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.” — Ronald Reagan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns (1985). During Reagan’s 8 years in power, the CIA secretly sent billions of dollars of military aid to the mujahedeen in Afghanistan in a US-supported jihad against the Soviet Union. We repeated the insanity with ISIS against Syria.